Brothers are getting ready to jazz up Portsmouth
May 16—F rom the VIP balcony, Michael Labrie will have one of the best seats in the house to see and hear the musicians at Jimmy's on Congress.
It's also where he can monitor the activity going on to either side of the stage. Guests mingling in the upper level suite. People hanging out by the bar downstairs, sipping $20 martinis.
"This is a great spot to watch the show," Labrie said during a recent tour of the not-yet-finished jazz and blues club. "This will probably be where I will hang out."
Over the past three years, Labrie and his brother, Peter, have spent a lot of time hanging out at Jimmy's, the former YMCA building they are converting into a four-story entertainment venue in downtown Portsmouth.
The restaurateurs hope to sell a lot of top-shelf cocktails and $5,000 "inner circle" annual memberships when the club opens in September. They have invested more than $20 million to gut, rebuild and expand the 1905 brick structure, whose first floor will house a contemporary art museum.
The Labries' line items have included expenses they have never encountered as the owners of the River House in Portsmouth and the Atlantic Grill in Rye, such as the $15,000 they had to spend to move electrical components so they could build a "garage" for the grand piano so it has somewhere to go when they slide it off the stage.
"I feel really confident in what we're doing here," Michael Labrie said. "But obviously it's a lot of risk putting this kind of money into something like this."
In late 2019, when we last toured the 27,000-square-foot property, the inside of the building was little more than a shell. The brothers' vision for the project, designed by architect Andrew Sidford, had barely begun to be realized.
For months, mechanical work left the walls exposed, and it didn't look like much of anything was happening. Now, construction workers are laying down floors and restoring windows.
"It's like a new place every time we come in," Michael Labrie said.
He has led dozens of tours of the property as the brothers try to build a buzz for their new venture, named in memory of their father and older brother. Elle's Lounge, inside the club, honors their mom. The brothers had to shelve their original plan to name the club Elle's after the fashion magazine of the same name threatened legal action.
The Labries like to tell the story of the building, pointing to exposed steel beams and the slabs of marble and hardwood from the old YMCA they are repurposing and highlighting wherever they can. They've reclaimed the light-sharing concept of the building's original design. You can see right through the building on every level thanks to lots of glass, a feature Peter Labrie notes will be a marvel when the club is lit up at night.
They've hired an executive chef, Nathan Varney, who plans to bring some New Orleans flare to the menu, and an executive director, Greg Kitowicz, whose experience includes opening locations for City Winery, a supper club entertainment model Jimmy's aims to emulate.
Jimmy's will feature high-end sound and video so guests can hear and see the music from most anywhere in the building, whether in the main performance area or in any of the various suites and function rooms the club will offer for corporate events and weddings. The club will have room for as many as 600 people.
"All these rooms are going to feel intimate. They are good-sized rooms, but each little space is intimate," Peter Labrie said. "People like jazz in an intimate setting, blues not so much."
Peter Labrie, already wearing a Jimmy's on Congress black Nike golf shirt, is the blues brother of the duo. He would "settle for Santana" to be the first act to play on Jimmy's stage.
His brother still hopes they can woo iconic jazz pianist Herbie Hancock.
"I want him to open this place with "Canteloupe Island," Michael Labrie said.
Hancock could expect the royal treatment should he accept the offer. The club's "green room," where musicians linger until performance time, was designed to encourage return engagements. The space, one floor above the stage, has room for meet-and-greets and can be expanded by walling off part of the nearby bar — for artists who might command more spacious digs. Musicians will use an elevator that will allow them to enter stage right without having to wade through the audience.
Those perks will make the job easier for Suzanne Bresette, who is overseeing both marketing and booking duties for the club.
"When we were first talking to some of Suzanne's contacts in the industry, one of the key things they said was make sure you're not just thinking about your customer experience. Make sure you're thinking about the artist as well," Peter Labrie said.
It's all about creating a sacred space.
"Our architect this past Saturday was giving a tour to prospective clients down in Cambridge, which included a Baptist minister," Michael Labrie said. "And Andrew said to him, 'This is the main performance space.' And the minister says to him, 'No, this is the church of jazz.'
"We love that quote."